The Second Temple or the Third?
Q. How do we know that the prophecies of Ezekiel are speaking about the third Temple rather than the second Temple? Or maybe both?
A. Thank you for your question, which was forwarded to my attention.
We see that the descriptions in Yechezkel can't be about the second Temple for a variety of reasons. First of all, the description of the building doesn't line up with the second Temple. (Not only do we have hindsight in this matter, the Jews in the time of Ezra and Nechemiah didn't build it according to the descriptions given by Yechezkel.) Additionally, Yechezkel describes a redivision of the land of Israel and differences in the Temple service that are not reflected in the second Temple. (Again, nobody at the time said, "We have to do things this way because Yechezkel said so" because he wasn't talking about them!)
I hope this helps!
Q. So the people who built the Second Temple basically knew it wasn't going to last, because presumably they knew about Yechezkel's prophecy being about a third Temple. That's a bit depressing.
A. That's an interesting thought, but consider two points:
1. Even if they knew that there would eventually be a third Temple, that doesn't necessarily mean they knew that there would be an exile and the second Temple would be destroyed. For example, maybe they thought that Moshiach would come and the second Temple would be rebuilt into the configurations of the third. (I don't know what they thought; to my knowledge, it hasn't been recorded.)
2. From the time of Avraham the Jewish family knew there was going to be an exile with enslavement, but we don't see that Yitzchak, Yaakov or any of his sons lived their lives terribly concerned about it. For that matter, I assume you're aware of the war of Gog u'Magog, but I suspect you're not too worried about it. I'll go one step further: every time a baby is born, we know for a fact that he or she will eventually pass away. Just because we think - or know for a fact - that the good times won't last forever, that doesn't mean that we should mourn prematurely. As King Solomon taught, there's a time to be born and a time to die, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to raze and a time to build, a time to cry and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance (Koheles chapter 3). Everything in its proper time. Building the second Temple was a joyous occasion. The fact that it would be destroyed hundreds of years later doesn't change that.
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